


Different Names for the Same Thing

by Malcontent_Ash



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Fluff, Mindfuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-19
Updated: 2014-04-20
Packaged: 2018-01-19 23:53:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1488844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Malcontent_Ash/pseuds/Malcontent_Ash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An afternoon chat between a host and the ancient spirit embodying them.  </p><p>Part one is Yugi/Yami<br/>Part two is Ryou/Bakura</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Heads

      “You don’t have to let me out like this all the time.” Yugi startled at the sound of Yami Yugi’s voice. “I’m sure that you’d really prefer to have some space sometimes…” Yami sounded uncharacteristically apologetic. Yami and Yugi were spending the Saturday in their room, playing a new video game that Yugi had bought with his chore money. Yugi paused the game and studied Yami, eyes somewhere between the naïve sixteen year old people often mistook him as and the incredible intelligence that Yami knew him to be.

     “What? What brought this up?” His voice was high. Abnormally high, even for his abnormally small and underdeveloped frame. When Yugi looked at him so sincerely it was easy to remember how and why he had been bullied by his peers.

     Yami feigned nonchalance, “Oh Y’know, it just seems like you should get sick of me sometimes. You can force me back whenever you want.” The tall slender frame leaned against the corner of Yugi’s messy school desk, careful to avoid the paperwork despite the fact that he was currently no more than a projection allowed into Yugi’s mind. Round violet eyes studied him in a way Yami knew most people took as cute and childish, but he knew indicated the workings of a terrifying intellect.

     “Hmm… I suppose so. But I guess it’s the same for you. You could probably take my body whenever if you really wanted.” Yugi smiled at him openly, a friendly, uncomfortably warm gesture. Yami felt driven to break eye contact and coughed awkwardly, trying to ignore the obvious innuendo.

     “Thanks, by the way,” Yugi continued, still smiling though now slightly sheepish at seeing the other’s discomfort. He tucked his feet under his thighs and leaned forward in an unconsciously endearing gesture. Sometimes it was disturbing how little he tried and if Yami hadn’t seen the very inside of the other’s mind (aside from a few ‘off-limits’ areas) he’d think that Yugi had calculated the gesture as an attempt to game this social interaction. Yami frowned guiltily, remembering all the times he had forcefully taken over Yugi’s body to search for clues to unravel his own past.

     “It’s not like I’d make it too far in this world without you…” Yami reasoned, feeling irrationally like he was taking advantage of his situation in Yugi’s mind. Without Yugi’s body to attach to, he’d either be forced to wander the world as a lost soul or be sent to the shadow realm.  Yugi just laughed, however, unpausing his game and continuing the boss battle from where he’d left off. He’d seemed entirely focused on his game so it caught Yami by surprise when he responded.

     “You think? I think you could manage. You’ve lived for thousands of years. You’d figure out some way to survive a couple years here at least.” Yami was caught by surprise as Yugi had clearly considered the possibility, the thought of which made Yami uncomfortable despite the fact that he’d just prompted Yugi to think about it.

     “Try using the spirit bomb when he’s stun-locked like that,” Yami suggested. They practiced together for a short while before Yugi was confident enough to try the boss level again.

     “Do you remember why I worked so hard to solve the Millennium Puzzle? Do you remember what my wish was going to be?” Yugi rocked even further forward on his ankles as the boss landed a rather unfortunate ultimate ability.

     “Hm?” Yami hummed, only passively watching the game and listening to the conversation.

     “All I really wanted all along was a real friend. I know you don’t really see it like that but I think that having you here is a gift. Being with you was the puzzle’s way of granting my wish.” The screen flashed ‘ _VICTORY_ ’ and a small celebration cutscene played. Yugi looked over his shoulder at Yami with a small smile.


	2. Tails

      Ryou stood in his bathroom scowling into the mirror. Something the matter? The voice in his head was like acid pumping through his heart. He glowered at his face in the mirror, daring the spirit to come forth.

     “Why are you doing this? What do you have to gain from hurting people?” Before he could even finish asking, he could feel the voice laughing inside him. He could feel the darkness pressing against the parts he managed to hold of his own mind. His face twisted into a self-satisfied expression which wasn’t his own.

     “Maybe I’m just doing it because it’s fun.” Bakura sneered at him, tucking a strand of hair behind their ear.

     “You’re sick!” Inside his mind, the two spirits were at odds. His body suffered between them, gripping the sink for purchase so hard their knuckles turned white.

     “If you could, it’d almost make you want to kill me too. We’re not so different, Ryou. You can act weak and pathetic with your loser friends but I can see into your soul and it’s just as putrid and poisonous as mine. You think I’m sick? _Stare into that mirror a little harder…_ ”

     Bakura touched Ryou’s face in the mirror tenderly, eyes dark. Ryou’s mind shuddered in the mirror as he forced Bakura back again. He relaxed a moment so Bakura would think the struggle was over before reeling his hand back in a fist. Before Bakura could respond, Ryou had punched through the mirror of the medicine cabinet. Small shards of glass wedged themselves between his knuckles and others left small scratches on his wrist and face.

     Bakura’s outrage poured out as an animalistic hiss which shook their bones. “You little _fucker_ —"

     “I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you for everything you’ve done, you sadistic monster!” He hated the way his voice shook as a dark weight gripped his soul and dragged him further back into his own mind. He was cocooned in a suffocating darkness and when he could see again, Bakura had locked him away in a dark corner of their mind.

     “You can’t do a thing, Ryou…”

     Ryou could feel the voice echoing in the room as though it had come from his own chest. He was gasping for air, locked in Bakura’s soul room. “You’re just as imprisoned here as I am. Throw a tantrum if you want. You’ll never escape from this.”

     Cold stone was hard beneath his knees as he sunk to the floor. _Just let your guard down for a minute_ … he promised.


End file.
